Anybody can make biodiesel. It’s easy, you can make it in your kitchen-- and it’s BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the huge oil companies sell you. Your diesel motor will run much better and last longer on your home-made fuel, and it’s much cleaner-- better for the and better for health.

If you make it from used cooking oil it’s not just low-cost however you’ll be recycling a problematic waste item. Best of all is the GREAT feeling of freedom, independence and empowerment it will give you. Here’s how to do it-- everything you need to know.

Straight vegetable oil fuel (SVO) systems can be a tidy, reliable and economical alternative. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you have to modify the engine. The best method is to fit a professional singletank SVO system with replacement injectors and glowplugs optimised for veg-oil, as well as fuel heating.

With the German Elsbett single-tank SVO system for circumstances you can utilize petro-diesel, biodiesel or SVO, in any mix. Just launch and go, stop and switch off, like any other automobile. Journey to Forever’s Toyota TownAce van utilizes an Elsbett single-tank system. More

There are also two-tank SVO systems which pre-heat the oil to make it thinner. You need to begin the engine on normal petroleum diesel or biodiesel in one tank and after that switch to SVO in the other tank when the veg-oil is hot enough, and switch back to petro- or biodiesel before you stop the engine, or you’ll coke up the injectors.

More info on straight vegetable oil systems in my blog.

3. Biodiesel or SVO?

Biodiesel has some clear benefits over SVO: it works in any diesel, without any conversion or modifications to the engine or the fuel system-- just put it in and go. It likewise has better cold-weather residential or commercial properties than SVO (but not as good as petro-diesel-- see Using biodiesel in winter). Unlike SVO,

it’s backed by numerous long-lasting tests in lots of countries, consisting of millions of miles on the roadway.

Biodiesel is a tidy, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it’s fair to say that lots of SVO systems are still speculative and require additional advancement.

On the other hand, biodiesel can be more expensive, depending just how much you make, what you make it from and whether you’re comparing it with new oil or utilized oil (and depending on where you live). And unlike SVO, it needs to be processed initially.

But the big and rapidly growing around the world band of homebrewers don’t mind-- they make a supply each week or once a month and soon get used to it. Many have been doing it for many years.

Anyway you have to process SVO too, particularly WVO (waste veggie oil, used, prepared), which many individuals with SVO systems utilize due to the fact that it’s inexpensive or totally free for the taking. With WVO food particles and impurities and water must be removed, and it probably needs to be deacidified too. Biodieselers state, “If I’m going to have to do all that I might also make biodiesel rather.” But SVO types belittle that-- it’s much less processing than making biodiesel, they say. To each his own.